Sunday, March 9

Moonstruck

Planting by lunar phases

Have you ever longed for guidelines to help with some of those important gardening decisions -- like when to divide and transplant your daylilies, prune a pear tree, fertilize your lawn or go to battle with Japanese beetles? Or perhaps you've looked far and wide for a tool that could improve the success rate of all your hard work.

Look to the stars, my friends, or more specifically, to the moon. Whether referred to as lunar gardening, astrological gardening or planetary planting, using moon phases and signs as an agricultural guide has been around for thousands of years. Our ancestors, lacking our modern weather-forecasting gadgets and wizardry - had to rely upon spoken/written history and following the cycles of the moon to help grow the food they needed to survive.

As a child, I always marveled at the health and pristine beauty of my Grandma and Grandpa Raspolich's vegetable garden and the manicured yard that contained numerous fruit trees and a spectacular grape arbor. Of course they put a great deal of physical work into maintaining it, but they also taught me that the moon played an important roll in their garden. Grandpa shared with me that he always planted below-ground crops after the full moon was just beginning to go dark (called the waning moon). Above-ground crops were planted after the new moon started to grow lighter (a waxing moon).

Because of the market garden, we often have to plant successive plantings of one crop to have product available over a longer period of time. (Radishes, for example, are planted one week apart and sweet corn we plant two weeks apart.) Over the years I've found that, weather permitting, we've generally had more success with the crops that follow the lunar planting rules. That made me wonder where some of these ideas originated and whether there were others I should be considering.

As I did some research, I discovered that the idea that we should plant potatoes on Good Friday is based in the ancient belief that the moon (the White Goddess) was the Earth Mother who had dominion over agriculture. The White Goddess' lover (or son) died after each harvest and was reborn the next spring. In Christianity, Easter supplants the pagan moon festival, Eostre, which celebrates this event. Though the Church had long since banned pagan rituals by the time the potato was introduced to England in the late 17th century, the idea of planting by the moon was still quite popular with farmers and gardeners. To validate (and perhaps give reverence) to the practice, someone decided that a potato buried in the ground could be a fitting symbol for the death of Christ and its green shoots symbolic of the Resurrection, hence becoming a way of paying homage to Christ.

In our scientific, high-tech world, it is easy to discount such practices. There is, however, some scientific evidence that suggests planting near a full moon does encourage growth, probably because of changes in the earth's electromagnetic field. We know for a fact that the moon's position does affect tides.

So how exactly does all this work?

There are on average 29 days to a lunar cycle, which begins with the new moon, also called "the dark of the moon." From the new moon to the first quarter (each quarter is about seven days) the moon appears to grow from nothing through crescent stage to a half-moon. The first quarter to full moon is next; this first half of the moon's cycle is referred to as the waxing stage. From the full moon to the last quarter, the moon is waning down to another half-moon. From the last quarter to the new moon, it goes dark.

Here are some general guidelines for lunar plantings:

New moon to first quarter: Plant above-ground crops with seed you can see, such as asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, grains, leeks, lettuce, parsley and spinach.

First quarter to full moon: Best time to plant flower seeds and above-ground crops with seeds contained within a fruit or pod such as beans, grains, melons, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Still a good time to plant crops with seeds you can see, too, such as those named above.

Full moon to last quarter: Plant bulbs and root crops, along with biennials and perennials (because they need strong roots). Crops such as beets, carrots, turnips, garlic, onions, radishes, strawberries and grapes do well. This is also a good harvest period in certain signs.

Last quarter to new moon: This is the best period for weeding, cultivating and pest control. This is also a good harvest period in certain signs.

Obviously, weather and temperature factors can come into play. Always use good garden practices and let common sense be the overriding factor. But a little extra gardening ‘insurance’ never hurts. All you really need to get started is a calendar showing the basic moon phases (many calendars already include these) or you can easily pick up a planting almanac. Experiment. Plant half your garden by the moon and the other half as you would normally.

The Old Farmer's Almanac website, www.almanac.com, is a great source for more specific information. Look under the "Advice" tab for the "Astrological Timetable." It gives the best days of the month for everything from beginning a diet to weaning animals and children!

After completing culinary arts training at Joliet Junior College and working as executive chef at the Heartland Health Spa in Gilman, Alex Panozzo returned to his agricultural roots on the family farm in Limestone. He has been involved with the local Master Gardener program for a number of years and is active in our area’s agri-tourism industry.